, 1887-09-08
MRS. FRANK LESLIE.
HOW A POOR WOMAN MADE A NIL
LION DOLLARS.


LION DOLLARS.
The Story of Publisher-Her Exercise
with the Dumb Delis-Tho Washington
Salon That She Proposes TO Establish.
Her Projects for the Future.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, Aug. 26.
Seven years ago she was not worth a dollar.
Today she could sell out for million.
Her income is slOO,O year.
And she made every cent Of her fortune
herself,
Such in brief is the career Of the most re-
markable of the great army Of advanced
women workers of the present. The woman
who accomplished it has no masculine traits
about her. She does not look to be over 80
She is beautiful and accomplished. She
speaks five languages as luentlY as she does
English. She talks i'll low voice, and her
hands and feet are as dainty as those of the
most dilettant society belle. There is not n
trace of worry i'll her soft, rosy features, and
amid all her business she is able to givo re-
ceptions and TO entertain such visitors Us call
| am speaking of Mrs. Frank Leslie, the
proprietor of the Leslie publications, and the
woman who is still the talk of London as the
cause of the trouble between the Russian
prince and the Count de Leuville. / met her
during her visit at Washington last winter
She was stopping at tho Riggs house and she
bad spent the evening before at the presidents
reception. While there 1 was told of pretty
compliment she had paid Mrs. Cleveland. On
being introduced, she had remarked:
Madam, I am very glad to find that our
first lady of the land is also one of the love
liest of the land"
Mrs. Cleveland had replied that she was
very glad to get such compliment from Mrs
Frank Leslie. Mis-. Leslie intends to Dur-
chase house ut Washington and TO spend her
winters there i'll the future. She will have a
salon at the capital, give receptions and din
ners, and, with the aid of her great paper,
she may throw herself into president making.
1t will not be surprising if her salon partakes
of the character of that of Madame Adam at
Paris, where the leading politicians met to-
gether and where national issues were often
discussed and decided upon. Indeed, Mrs.
Lesiie's receptions here in New York, which
she gives Thursday evenings during her stay,
are attended 10y many literary lights and
other prominent characters of this city
There is great field for such woman in
Washington, and if Mrs Leslie has anything
like as much social ability as she has business
ability, she will make her salon one OF the
great institutions of Washington society.
Many people have heard ths story of Mrs.
Leslie's remarkable career, but few have got
ten it as did from her own lips She told me
Of her struggles when Frank Leslie died, Ieay-
ing her with $500, 900 worth of debt, and with
A,,N 81
flee and do his work until his debts were
paid. She told me of her fight to get hold of
the paper and to get money to pay oven its
necessary expenses, Through the boy which
her husband had taken into his ofIice she was
able to borrow $4,000 from wealthy
woman who had confidence in her. though
the lawyers advised her against the loan. She
agreed to pay this loan in six months install
ments OF 5000 each, and ut the time she tool:
the money this seemed an impossibiliry.
She got control OF the establishment two
da's before Garfield was shot Everything
was in chaos. Nevertheless she shipp-,i her
artists to Washington and scocped the other
illustrated newspapers ON ne news. She sold
300O0 copies of the weekly in Cleveland Mt
the time Of Garfield's funeral, and she made
$50 600 clear by throwing the sketches which
she usel i'll the weekly into a memorial edi
t'n 1iu S'ihiig tneih. she hau gotten her
.":,n Of $4,000, I think. IN January, AMI in
November her first ins;alment Of $1,000 WINS
due. By Oct 10 she was able to pay the loan
in full, and she gave her creditor s5O.O
with interest TO that date
She didn't stop her enterprise with Gar
field. She pushed Frank Lesle's publications.
everywhere. She lived simply, and during
the first two years of her struggles, i'm which
she paid OF 500. 600 of debts, she spent but
little on herself. She lived in an uncai.pefad
fireless attic, where she had to stand upon a
chair to see the blue sky, and she worked nil
day and far into the night ut her business
year later she had closed out another hundred
thousand dollars of bills, AMI the ua,no of
Frank Leslie was clear o. debt Since then
her property has grown in value and it is
now worth round million and it brings har
in an irseome OF $1,000 year. She tells me
that she has no family, and that she don't
think she can spend part of her money bet
ter than at Washington. Sho is proud of her
success, but not boastfui, and there IS nothing
that the world calls "loud" about her.
asked her as to her daily life and how sbo
managed to accomplish so much work and to
do it so easily. She replied that she took
good care of herself and worked by system
She gave me the outline of her daily work
when in America. She rises i'm the morning
and takes cold bath, then exercises briskIy
with the dumb bells, has light breakfast.
and by 9o'clock is OH the elevated train eoinr
down to her office. She works busiIy hers
from until 4. experimenting everything.
making all the purchases, ond decitling OH tho
more important manuscripts which are to 90
into her publications. She EMPLOYS 400
editors, craftsmen, artists and other workers
and keeps twenty presses busy at printing her
periodicals She snys shs considers herself ns
good judge OF white paper as any man in
New York, and her purchases of this articl,
alonc amount to 5000 n week. She paws
high salaries too, and she has artists to whom
she gives Sl30 week and engravers who get
as high rs $50 week.
She does not believe in the principle of her
husband in training bright men for other
publications. MIR. Frank Leslie was wont to
take young artists, train them to their wor...
until they became valuable, and then allow
them to go to other houses upon the offer OF
higher wages Mrs. Lesio says she wants tho
best artists and she is willing to pay the high
est prices for them. She tells me that her
husbands establishment was for years great
training school and that Thomas Mast was en
ployed by him when he was yet boy at the
rate Of $3 q week. Mast came in TO L.slie with
O portfolio of drawings, and told Leslie that
he would like to do some sketching for him
Mr.. Leslie directed him to Fulton ferry, and
told him to bring back some character
sketches He did so. They were crude, but
they showed talent, and Frank Leslie took
him into the Office. He served here for some
time, his wages being greatly increased with
his proficiency. He is now receiving SIC, 900